Attention-Seeking Behaviour
by zsra187
Summary: 'Don't worry, I seem to have this affect on most women.' Oneshot.


Attention-Seeking Behaviour

She was pretty sure that if he listened closely enough, he'd be able to hear her heart pounding away in her ribcage, like a drum. _Boom, Boom, Boom. _Glancing down at the small exposed patch of her chest where her shirt had been pushed away across her left shoulder, she swore she could see her skin vibrating in time with each steady beat. If the vibrations were so obvious to her, he would definitely be able to feel them, particularly now that his lips had planted themselves just underneath her jaw, tongue swiping gently across her pulse.

She'd taken an elective biology course last year, so she was almost certain she knew the location of all the pulse points in the human body. There were the obvious ones, like the neck and the wrist, the immediate go-to area for any individual concerned over their elevated or plummeting heart rate. The less obvious, _(and she always thought, the slightly more…erogenous)_ points were the ones that no-one really thought to check in a sudden or unexpected situation: the inside of the elbow, the soft spot of skin behind the knee, or the inside the thigh, just above the femoral artery. She was pleasantly surprised to find, however, that not only did he seem perfectly acquainted with these areas, he also seemed more than willing to exploit them in order to gain a full advantage over her. Trust him to always want the upper hand, even in a situation like this. Correction: _especially_ in a situation like this.

She had never expected this. To be so close to him, in such intimate circumstances, still seemed slightly surreal to her, even though it wasn't the first time. But with one hand pinning her left arm to the pillow next to her head, and the other fingering its way underneath her blouse, she felt as if she had no choice but to lie back and surrender. He made her insides tighten and squirm, his trailing fingertips made the hair on her arms and the back on her neck stand on end, and once, _(a certain memory that she had put aside and only allowed herself to indulge in on very rare occasions)_ he had kissed her so softly on her jutting hip bone that her stomach had dropped and her mouth had gone dry. But these were involuntary responses; reactions that were common when the human body was exposed to such stimuli, and she couldn't let herself be carried away by them.

She had always considered herself an intelligent, free-thinking young woman, even priding herself on being somewhat of a feminist. Of course, she certainly was a sucker for old romance. She owned all the typical movies:_ An Affair to Remember, The Way We Were, Casablanca…(the latter, if she wasn't mistaken, he had brought her for her last birthday. She remembered being astonished that he'd actually put some thought into his purchase, instead of buying her a ridiculous 'Night of the Living Dead' DVD or something as equally mind-numbing.)_ It was just that her idea of 'romance' was being particularly spoilt by her dalliances with a certain someone. No candlelight, no poetry, no whisking her off her feet. That was what she'd always wanted. But he never offered any such things whenever he came to her, and the fool she was, she accepted him anyway. She could almost hear the good Casey, the ever-present angel on her shoulder, berating her inside her head, _(What are you doing? Don't you have any respect for yourself? Why are you letting him use you like this?) _More often than not she refused to contemplate the answers. Not that she even had any.

Now he was kissing down her neck, and she jerked her thoughts back to the current situation at hand. She bent her head slightly to the left, her nose gently brushing his hair. He smelled like his room back home, even though neither of them had been back there in a few months. But suddenly it was like she'd stepped in a time machine, transporting her back to a simpler time, when she was _'Step-sister' _and he was _'Step-brother_', when things were uncomplicated and there were actual _boundaries._ Well those boundaries were sure as hell gone now that her shirt was unbuttoned and his hands were sliding across her stomach. It seemed stupid to think it, but she'd never actually realised that he had hands before. She'd never particularly taken the time to look at them, think about them in any capacity, apart from when he was pinching or poking, or pinging her bra strap. But now his hands were all she could focus on. They fluttered, stroked and caressed their way up her torso, leaving a trail of burning skin in their wake. _(Inhale. Exhale. Breathe.)_ His hands were so sure of themselves, so confident, the complete opposite of her stupid fingers as they tentatively reached up to smooth over his shoulders, and gently pull his face back to hers.

If someone had told her this time last year that the two of them would have spent thirty seconds, _(let alone the twenty-three minutes that had passed since he'd knocked on her bedroom door)_ in the same room without saying a word to each-other, she would have thought it impossible. She bitched and whined, he would gloat and boast, and they would annoy the hell out of each other, but she could never ignore him, even when she was giving him the cold shoulder. She found it somewhat ironic that now they were finally getting along so well, conversation suddenly took a nosedive. She guessed they'd finally found a better use for each-others' mouths.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts, and in the feeling of his lips sliding further down her collarbone, that she didn't realise his hands had suddenly halted. He lifted his head up. She must have looked a sight, she thought, with her hair mussed, and her lips red and swollen. His eyes were dark as he looked at her questioningly. Oh God, why was he looking at her like that? Did she do something wrong? Was he comparing her to Sally, or Emily, or any one of the many, many girls with whom she knows he's been acquainted, and whose experience with men outranked hers by tens…maybe even hundreds? Her heart began to beat even faster, her palms were cold and clammy, and she felt a funny feeling in her stomach that she usually only associated with pre-exam jitters. She was nervous.

'What's wrong?' Her voice sounded small and uncertain, completely unlike her own.

He glanced curiously down her stomach, then looked at her, eyebrow raised. 'What's that?'

'What's what?' Her mind was clouded, and clearly running a few steps behind reality thanks to their current activities.

He looked at her sceptically. 'This big bandage covering your stomach, Case. What do you think?' He fingered the edge of the gauze where it had been taped across her navel.

_Oh, that._ 'Err…that's nothing.' She went to cover it with her hands, embarrassed. 'Just go around it,' she suggested.

He laughed lightly, and for a second she actually believed that she might have succeeded in diverting his attention. But he shifted his weight and, despite her mewings of protest, began to gently peel the tape away from her skin.

She didn't even know what had possessed her to get it done. It really didn't seem like something the sensible, responsible Casey would do, but then, maybe that's why she'd eventually taken a deep breath, ploughed ahead and done it. She had expected it to hurt, but apart from a small sting, the whole thing had been rather painless. In fact, everything hadn't seemed as much of a big deal as she'd always thought. The apprehension, the pain, then trying to hide it from everyone. It had all seemed relatively… dare she say it? Easy.

Craning her head to see what he was doing, she nearly laughed at the expression of determined concentration on his face. After a minute, he peeled of the last remaining gauze, and was finally rewarded with the appearance of a tiny, glinting jewel that was attached to the piercing through her belly button. It was still a little sore. She soaked it saline solution every day, just like the beautician had advised, and eventually the ugly raw redness had subsided to a pink tinge. _What did he think?_ His eyes were as round as saucers. It seemed he was momentarily struck for words. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out,

'Do you like it?'

Crap. Could she sound more like a love-sick puppy? She carried on, quickly trying to rectify the situation. 'Because I do. I've always thought they looked nice. That's why I got it done.' She paused slightly. 'I didn't get it done for you or anything.' She briefly wondered if one day her insane ramblings might end scaring him off for good.

But he smiled as if to humour her, seemingly not accepting her unsatisfactory explanation. 'Don't worry…I seem to have this affect on most women.' _Yeah, she was perfectly aware of that fact, thank you very much._

'You know, I really shouldn't condone this kind of attention-seeking behaviour.' He shook his head in a mocking reprimand. 'Whatever next Case? Tattoos? Motorcycles? Leather bondage?' he suggested, eyebrows waggling. She wondered if the smirk on his face could get any bigger. 'In fact, I didn't realise your attraction to me could be so dangerous,' he whispered, his mouth creeping down her stomach towards the button of her jeans.

She would have loved nothing more than to verbally bitch-slap that smirk off his face, but all thoughts of retorting a witty remark about whips or chains were pushed out her brain when she felt the buttons of her jeans pop open. If it were possible, her heart beat even faster. Everything up until now had been slow and deliberate, but all of a sudden he seemed to lose his patience. His thumbs hooked themselves in the belt loops on her jeans, roughly pulling them down past her hips, and sliding them down her legs.

Her breath was coming quicker now, in short, heavy gasps. A million thoughts swirling around in her head, she paused just long enough for one to materialize at the front of her brain. Her confidence boosted, she glanced slyly through her eyelashes, to where he was perched on the end of her bed.

'So…you approve of the piercing?'

* * *

A/N: So...this is the product of my attempt to write a fanfiction that is slightly angsty but also has a touch of sweetness about it at the same time. What do you think? Did I manage to accomplish the task? Leave a review and let me know your thoughts! And thank you for all the great reviews for my other stories!


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